Delivery Lead (to be based UAE)

ABOUT R/GA

R/GA is a creative innovation company for the intelligence age. We harness design and technology to create more valuable experiences for people and brands. We are a company of reinvention: we evolve as technology reshapes the world, and we help our clients do the same. Our team is a mix of specialists working at the intersection of brand design, experience design, technology, and communications. We work hybrid, both in the studio and online in MENA, EMEA, and globally, bringing together the leading minds of our specialist crafts to solve any problem.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a Director, Program Management, MENA to lead the production and delivery operation of R/GA MENA. This is a senior leadership role for a confident delivery leader who has shipped ambitious work and can balance delivery quality, commercial outcomes, and client relationships seamlessly. You will work closely with the Executive Director, MENA to set up engagements, shape teams, and bridge project work with both clients and regional leadership. You will report into the Head of Program Management, EMEA on functional and technical growth, and into the Executive Director, MENA on regional, client, and personal growth. The ideal candidate operates with confidence at VP and C-level on engagements that include rebrands, new venture creation, and digital innovation programs built for the intelligence age. You are equally comfortable shaping a pitch, setting up a project, directing a team, and calling on the right craft leads at the exact right moment. Senior Producers run the work day-to-day on most engagements. As Director, you will set each project up, define the operational shape and the team, and ensure the Senior Producers are running it flawlessly. You will act as the bridge between the project team, leadership, and the client. Crucially, this is a hybrid player-coach role: where there is no Senior Producer in place, you will roll up your sleeves and run the work yourself. A key part of the role will be defining how we deliver in the intelligence age. You will be at the forefront of new ways of working: identifying, experimenting with, and codifying AI-enabled delivery practices that keep R/GA ahead of the curve.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategic Partnership: Partner with the MENA Business Lead to architect new engagements, shape cross-functional teams, and align project work with regional leadership.
• Operational Architecture: Set up every engagement for success. Define the delivery shape, team design, roadmap, and commercial model before the work begins.
• Production Oversight: Oversee Senior Producers running projects day-to-day. Hold the bar on creative and technical quality, make sure they have what they need, and step in to provide air cover when needed.
• Hands-on Delivery: Run the work yourself on key accounts or where no Senior Producer is in place. Hold the schedules, manage the freelancers, write the scopes, and handle the day-to-day execution.
• The Connective Tissue: Act as the bridge between the project team, the Executive Director MENA, and the client. Translate up, translate down, and keep everyone aligned.
• Fluid Resourcing: Reshape delivery and the team mid-project when the brief evolves. Bring the right craft leads in at the exact right moment.
• Financial Stewardship: Manage account financial health and project P&L. Negotiate statements of work, oversee project financials, and ensure work is delivered on budget and clients are invoiced correctly.
• Commercial Operations: Own scoping, change orders, forecasting, utilization, and margin reporting for the region.
• Regional Compliance: Run client procurement portals, vendor registration, supplier onboarding, and compliance for UAE and KSA accounts.
• Client Relationship: Hold the delivery-side client relationship across active accounts. Be the senior delivery contact clients trust at VP and C-level.
• Growth Catalyst: Identify and develop growth on every account, organic or new business. Translate delivery insights into commercial conversations.
• Pitch Integration: Build credible, executable delivery plans, costs, and resourcing models for new business pursuits and pitches.
• Team Mentorship & Energy: Lead, mentor, and manage junior delivery managers and freelance partners assigned to MENA work. Be the cheerleader—keep momentum and morale high through pressure, change, and long pitches.
• Next-Gen Workflows: Define AI-powered ways of working across pitches and projects, including delivery workflows, resource modeling, and quality assurance practices.
• Global Alignment: Partner with EMEA Production leadership to align ways of working, tools, and standards between EMEA and globally.
• On-the-Ground Presence: Represent R/GA in person, on the ground, in client offices within the MENA region.

THE IDEAL PERSON HAS

• Experience working within or alongside global networks and diverse cultural contexts, ideally including MENA.
• A proven track record of shipping—not just supporting—rebrands, new venture creations, digital innovation, and scaled product programs built for the intelligence age.
• Natural confidence in C-suite environments, with the ability to earn trust quickly.
• A high tolerance for ambiguity. You can fluidly reshape delivery models and teams mid-project as briefs shift.
• The balance to be equally comfortable directing the work yourself and calling on craft leads when their expertise should drive. You know when to lead, when to execute, and when to step back.
• A cheerleader mentality for the team. You bring energy and keep people moving through pressure, change, and long pitches.
• A strong commercial instinct, with the ability to read margin, scope creep, and risk before they become problems.
• Experience managing distributed teams and freelance networks while holding quality across people you do not see every day.
• An active advocacy for the use of AI as a tool to elevate delivery outcomes.
• A calm, steady presence that absorbs client volatility and keeps teams focused.
• A self-starter mindset. This is a build role in a small in-region team—you will set up just as much as you run.

YOU BRING

• Significant agency (or equivalent) experience in senior production and delivery leadership.
• Proven ownership of $1M+ engagements end-to-end, with comfort across a range of commercial models.
• Mastery of project management methodologies and production infrastructure (you write the schedule, you don’t just ask for it).
• Experience setting up and running engagements across product, platform, brand, and communications work.
• Mastery of modern project management and resourcing tools such as Smartsheet, Jira, Mavenlink, or equivalent.
• Strong financial literacy, including forecasting, utilization, margin reporting, and SOW structuring.
• Experience setting up commercial and operational frameworks in new markets is a major plus.
• Delivery experience within UAE and KSA government or financial services sectors is highly valued.
• Deep cultural fluency for the Gulf business context.
• A genuine passion for mentoring and developing production talent.

WHY YOU SHOULD WORK HERE

• The opportunity to shape the production foundation of R/GA MENA and directly influence its regional impact.
• A collaborative, diverse, and innovation-driven environment.
• A progressive hybrid work culture, based in UAE with flexibility and autonomy.
• Direct access to R/GA’s global network of world-class thinkers, makers, and technologists.
• Comprehensive wellbeing and learning resources with a budget to support your health and wellness.
• A supportive culture that is collaborative, inclusive, and genuinely people-first.

Diversity

No matter who you are, where you’re from, who you love, what you believe, your disability (or superpower) status, ethnicity, or the gender you identify with (please do tell us your pronouns), you’re welcome at R/GA. If you have any specific requests or accommodation requirements, please let us know.